Cholesterol screening by nativity status in pediatric patients receiving care in United States community-based clinics

Abstract

Objective

Accumulation of cardiovascular risks begins early in life. Some experts recommend cholesterol screening for children aged nine to 11. Latinos living in the U.S. have a high burden of cardiovascular disease and risk factors, and this is further influenced by birthplace, yet information on early screening for cardiovascular disease in this group is sparse.

Methods

We used electronic health records from a national network including 771 community-based clinics across 21 states from 2012 to 2020, from 310,297 foreign-born Latino, US-born Latino, Latino with unknown birthplace, and non-Hispanic white patients aged nine to 17 years. Logistic regression including demographic and clinical covariates was conducted to estimate prevalence of cholesterol testing, stratified by obesity.

Results

Latino children, regardless of nativity status, had higher adjusted prevalence of cholesterol screening compared to non-Hispanic white children for those with and without obesity. The highest prevalence of screening among those with obesity was in foreign-born Latinos (34.8 %), and among those who were not obese, US-born Latinos had the highest screening prevalence (16.8 %).

Conclusions

Cholesterol screening was low overall in these community-based clinic patients but differed by ethnicity and nativity status. There is opportunity for further research on outcomes in Latino children to inform guidelines for early screening for cardiovascular health.